Apple retail plans, sources point to Mac OS X Lion launch next week

Apple late Wednesday evening began advising members of its retail segment of several preparatory measures ahead of an expected launch of its Mac OS X Lion operating system next week, which other partners say will be followed closely by the launch of much-anticipated refreshes to the company's MacBook Air notebook family.

For example, one person with access to the company's internal retail news network told AppleInsider that a new bulletin posted to the system this week is advising store management to perform RAM upgrades to certain Mac models on the showroom floors by Sunday, July 10th at the latest — presumably in preparation for those models to be upgraded with Lion shortly thereafter.

This same person also mentioned hearing rumors from colleagues that Apple may formally invite some customers to its retail locations to download the new OS from within the store so that they can receive assistance in becoming familiar with some of Lion's more prominent enhancements.

Separately, another person employed at an Apple retail store said management late Wednesday night began advising employees that an overnight planogram shift will also be held sometime next week, though this person did not provide a specific date for the move.

Overnights historically take place at the Cupertino-based company's retail shops ahead of major product introductions and task several members of each store with working through the night reorganizing product displays, window signage and performing other tasks necessary to facilitate each particular product launch.

Meanwhile, people with ties to Apple's other operating segments are supporting claims that Apple will make Mac OS X Lion available to the general public sometime next week. They add that long-awaited refreshes to the MacBook Air line will follow the launch closely, possibly the following week.

As AppleInsider exclusively reported a little less than a month ago, Apple management made a decision earlier this spring to freeze new Mac introductions, such as the new MacBook Airs, until the completion of Lion so that it could image the new notebooks with a Gold Master build of Lion, which would afford buyers the latest and greatest Apple experience.

This includes complimentary iCloud services that will come built into the software, offering a means of automatic data synchronization that is both unparalleled in the computing industry, and paramount in an age when consumers are adopting a digital lifestyle in which they own and operate multiple mobile devices.

Of those 380,000 initial mid-2011 MacBook Airs, roughly 55 percent (or 209,000) were built of the 11.6-inch varieties, which have proven slightly more popular than the 13.3-inch offerings due to their more attractive entry-level price points.

Lion will be available to users running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard as a $29.99 download from the Mac App Store. Among its 250 new features, the OS upgrade will introduce new Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations, full screen apps, Mission Control, Launchpad, a redesigned Mail app, application Resume, Auto Save, Version histories, and AirDrop.

For more on these features and others, see AppleInsider's illustrated in-depth series: Inside Mac OS X Lion.

I was really hoping for Lion this week. I was checking my apps to see which ones requires Rosetta to work. It turns out only two of my apps are PowerPC apps (one is Office 2004) and I already have the newest version of these apps. So I am good to go.

Just got an email from Intuit to all registered users warning me that Quicken for Mac 2007 will not open under Lion. Don't know if they got a heads up from Apple, or are just acting on the July timeframe previously announced.

This and the absence of iWeb/MobileMe Gallery from iCloud are two reasons I will delaying install of Lion for some time. The first time I will not be an early adopter.

Lion looks like a bad version of IOS in order to attract iPhone and iPad users who still use a Windows laptops / desktops. Apart from sandboxing in Safari and autosave / restore there seems very little additional functionality in Lion. Seems mainly eye candy they can't even implement tabbed browsing in the Finder or re-send email in Mail. I am sad to say in the 15 years plus I have been using Mac's I have never been so underwhelmed in my anticipation to a "major" OS upgrade. I really hope that this is not the beginning of the end for the Mac OS and that Apple haven't forgotten the mantra "Less is More" as that is what has worked for so long and has made using Mac's a pleasure. Keep it simple, keep it clean. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should.

Just got an email from Intuit to all registered users warning me that Quicken for Mac 2007 will not open under Lion. Don't know if they got a heads up from Apple, or are just acting on the July timeframe previously announced.

This and the absence of iWeb/MobileMe Gallery from iCloud are two reasons I will delaying install of Lion for some time. The first time I will not be an early adopter.

What does iCloud and iWeb/MobileMe have to do with Lion?! iCloud will not be launched until later this fall and iWeb+MM will work until Jun next year.

Seriously guy pull your head out of the sand. This is a huge update to Mac OS/X. Many of the updates will set OS/X for future generations of hardware.

Beyond all of that most of the improvements do lead to a better user experience. Keeping things simple while expanding capability will be one of the highlights of Lion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Odysseus1923

Lion looks like a bad version of IOS in order to attract iPhone and iPad users who still use a Windows laptops / desktops. Apart from sandboxing in Safari and autosave / restore there seems very little additional functionality in Lion. Seems mainly eye candy they can't even implement tabbed browsing in the Finder or re-send email in Mail. I am sad to say in the 15 years plus I have been using Mac's I have never been so underwhelmed in my anticipation to a "major" OS upgrade. I really hope that this is not the beginning of the end for the Mac OS and that Apple haven't forgotten the mantra "Less is More" as that is what has worked for so long and has made using Mac's a pleasure. Keep it simple, keep it clean. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should.

Just got an email from Intuit to all registered users warning me that Quicken for Mac 2007 will not open under Lion. Don't know if they got a heads up from Apple, or are just acting on the July timeframe previously announced.

This and the absence of iWeb/MobileMe Gallery from iCloud are two reasons I will delaying install of Lion for some time. The first time I will not be an early adopter.

Just run on a cloned drive or volume and have fun and keep your SL intact for now. Why miss out at that price?

Seriously guy pull your head out of the sand. This is a huge update to Mac OS/X. Many of the updates will set OS/X for future generations of hardware.

Beyond all of that most of the improvements do lead to a better user experience. Keeping things simple while expanding capability will be one of the highlights of Lion.

Yeah right by making Mac look more like Windows please. So tell me what is so ground breaking about Lion that you cannot already do in Snow Leopard. Mission Control and Launchpad are just gimmicks to try and attract non Mac iOS users.